Brazil, Costa Rica and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) currently participate in the project, and they are the ones who seek to develop geostationary meteorological satellites of the continent, so as not to depend on satellites from the northern hemisphere.
“We need to have a Latin American satellite to achieve sovereignty, we seek to generate data that is better suited to the needs we have at the regional level,” said Luciano Vidal, a SMN researcher.
“Today we are covered at the regional level by satellites that are operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States and NASA, where although there are cooperation agreements, there are certain priorities that are oriented to the needs of that country,” he explained.
Latin America would not be the first region to have this type of satellite since the United States, Europe, Russia and Japan have geostationary satellites, which are normally positioned between about 60 degrees north and about 60 degrees south and move with the Earth accompanying its rotation. , so they always focus on the same point.
“These satellites are prepared for the problems of the northern hemisphere. When there are extreme events such as the hurricane season in the North, the satellites reduce the amount of information they send us,” said Laura Frulla, Conae’s Earth Observation manager. .
Conversations to advance the development of a Latin American satellite began in 2018, and the aim is to develop the satellite within the framework of the Latin American and Caribbean Space Agency (ALCE), an international organization formed in 2021, in charge of coordinating the cooperation activities in the space field of Latin American and Caribbean countries.
With the intention of obtaining a greater source of financing, the specialists are talking with Chile, Paraguay, Mexico and Colombia to join the project.
“In Latin America there are very heterogeneous capacities. There are institutions that are dedicated to data processing, other agencies that have satellites but cannot operate them, other agencies that are dedicated to analyzing images and do not have satellites. The idea is precisely to invite the rest of countries to be part of the construction of instruments and the development of products”, affirmed Frulla, who stressed that “Argentina is the only country capable of designing, developing and operating a satellite in Latin America”.
2023-08-21 11:43:00
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